Course Description
Survey of the intellectual and cultural history of America from its colonial origins to 1865.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be assigned extensive additional
readings in the current research in the field and will meet
weekly with the instructor outside of class for a discussion
session. They will be required to write extra papers
demonstrating their research and interpretive skills, as
appropriate at the graduate level.
Athena Title
AM INTELLEC TO 1865
Prerequisite
Junior student standing
Undergraduate Pre or Corequisite
HIST 2111 or 2111H or HIST 2112 or HIST 2112H
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students should leave the class with an understanding of how ideas and culture have played a role in the economic, political, and social development of the United States. Students should also leave the class with an appreciation of the country's intellectual and cultural traditions. Finally, students should leave the class with an improved ability to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
1. Native American Cultures and Encounters 2. British Colonization and Puritanism 3. African Diaspora and African-American Culture 4. Colonial Religion: Revivals, Awakenings, Apparitions 5. Material Culture, Fine Art, and Everyday Life 6. American Revolution: Ideas and Consequences 7. Making of the Constitution 8. Creating an American Culture in the Early Republic 9. Religion in the Early Republic 10. Slavery and Anti-slavery 11. Reform Movements and Utopian Communities in the Antebellum Era 12. Popular Culture and Entertainment in the Antebellum Era 13. Transcendentalism and the American Renaissance 14. The Civil War